A Pride flag removed from the Stonewall National Monument. Exhibition panels about slavery taken down at a national park site in Philadelphia.
The changes, ordered under a directive from President Donald Trump to “restore truth and sanity to American history,” have prompted a legal challenge from a group representing current and former National Park Service employees, who say the administration is erasing history.
The Association of National Park Rangers, joined by other groups, has filed suit alleging the administration is removing or altering materials related to what it calls “history and science” across national park sites.
What You Need To Know
The Trump administration ordered changes at national park sites under a directive to “restore truth and sanity to American history”
The Pride flag was removed from Stonewall National Monument and slavery exhibit panels were taken down in Philadelphia
The Association of National Park Rangers and other groups have filed a lawsuit alleging history and science are being erased
President Trump said the order is intended to ensure national sites do not inappropriately disparage Americans past or living
Bill Wade, the association’s executive director and a retired second-generation National Park Service employee, said rangers have long seen their role as preserving the full story of the nation, even when it is painful.
“That does include telling the stories even when maybe they are about something that today we’re not very proud of,” he said.
But Wade said recent actions by the administration have been “deeply emotional” and “gut wrenching.”
“It’s been very disturbing to me and most of the people that I know,” he added.
The lawsuit follows an executive order issued last spring titled “Restore Truth and Sanity in American History.” In announcing the effort, Trump said, “We will teach our children to love our country, to honor our history.”
The order directs federal agencies to ensure national sites do not “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.”
Since then, Wade said dozens of sites have been affected by what he describes as censorship.
In Philadelphia, panels from an exhibit about slavery were removed. In New York City, the Pride flag was taken down from Stonewall National Monument in Greenwich Village, widely considered the birthplace of the modern gay rights movement.
The flag’s removal has also prompted a separate lawsuit.
“They knew right where to go. Right to the heart of what we consider sacred as a gay community. They came right for us,” one activist said at a rally this week.
“They stole the flag in an attempt to steal our pride. In an attempt to steal our history. We are not going to stand for that,” another said.
Wade said the Association of National Park Rangers has historically viewed itself as an educational organization, not an advocacy group. Founded in 1977, he said the association has only been involved in one other lawsuit to his knowledge.